Major Danish hospital construction gets new 18-month delay
Construction of the new Odense University Hospital OUH has suffered a major new delay and the facility may now not be completed for another 18 months.
The regional South Denmark health authority said on Friday that it “no longer believes the contractor can comply with the agreed schedule” for building the hospital.
The most recent schedule for building the hospital would have seen the first patients in the building by late 2025 or early 2026, but that timeline will no longer be fulfilled, the region said.
“The quarterly report states that a delay could be up to 18 months but it is too early to say anything precise,” the statement reads.
The existing OUH buildings will remain in use until the new construction is complete, the region also confirmed.
The contractor behind the project, Odense Hospital Project Team (OHPT), has had “fewer staff on the building site than planned over an extended period,” Region South Jutland adding that this had “generated a delay that is no longer possible to make up.”
The scrapped schedule was agreed between the two sides in 2022.
Region South Jutland was last year given permission by the government to increase the budget on the new hospital by 454 million kroner, bringing the overall cost to 8.2 billion kroner.
A previous one-year delay to the original schedule was announced in December 2022.
The hospital project originated in 2008 and construction initially commenced in 2019.
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The regional South Denmark health authority said on Friday that it “no longer believes the contractor can comply with the agreed schedule” for building the hospital.
The most recent schedule for building the hospital would have seen the first patients in the building by late 2025 or early 2026, but that timeline will no longer be fulfilled, the region said.
“The quarterly report states that a delay could be up to 18 months but it is too early to say anything precise,” the statement reads.
The existing OUH buildings will remain in use until the new construction is complete, the region also confirmed.
The contractor behind the project, Odense Hospital Project Team (OHPT), has had “fewer staff on the building site than planned over an extended period,” Region South Jutland adding that this had “generated a delay that is no longer possible to make up.”
The scrapped schedule was agreed between the two sides in 2022.
Region South Jutland was last year given permission by the government to increase the budget on the new hospital by 454 million kroner, bringing the overall cost to 8.2 billion kroner.
A previous one-year delay to the original schedule was announced in December 2022.
The hospital project originated in 2008 and construction initially commenced in 2019.
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